Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC)

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 26,780 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 45% compared to the average volume of 18,452 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KHC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.55.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ KHC opened at $32.02 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.22. Kraft Heinz has a 12 month low of $30.40 and a 12 month high of $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $38.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.49.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. The company had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kraft Heinz will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 144.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total transaction of $1,505,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares in the company, valued at $5,626,122.75. This represents a 21.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kraft Heinz

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KHC. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Kraft Heinz by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 119,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,391,000 after purchasing an additional 23,432 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the first quarter worth approximately $7,742,000. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 34.7% in the 1st quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 2,616,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,541,000 after acquiring an additional 674,436 shares during the period. Sweeney & Michel LLC acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 1st quarter valued at $411,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 20,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,548 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile

The Kraft Heinz Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in North America and internationally. Its products include condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy products, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee, and other grocery products under the Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Heinz, ABC, Master, Quero, Kraft, Golden Circle, Wattie's, Pudliszki, and Plasmon brands.